K.

XIV

Jesse was already making a run to the front steps of his apartment building, where K said she'll be waiting.

There's been a minor pile-up in the corner of Madison street, some pizza delivery guy's van got hit and was badly dented by a cab. No one got hurt, just a couple of tossed-up pepperoni pizza slices on the road.

Jesse certainly wasn't going to wait for the police to come and control the traffic and accident, not when seeing K was on the line. He knew that she was very impatient, and that she will definitely leave again if she waited too long for him. She's a damned flight risk.

"Fuck!" He muttered as he reached the steps on the main door of his apartment building. Just what he dreaded, K wasn't there anymore. He stopped to take a breath, his hands on his knees as he dragged air into his lungs - like he just finished running a marathon. He really ought to stop smoking, his first thought.

He sat on the steps and fished out his phone from his jeans' front pocket. He dialed K's number, silently cursing at himself and praying that she would pick up his call.

It just rang for about thirty seconds, and then it beeped into dial tone. She just fucking dropped his call.

Jesse couldn't believe it. He left his boys Levi and Isaac just so he could see K. All that hope and effort - he even ran like a crazy person through Madison street, just to be ditched again. He got up and grabbed for the keys to the main door, feeling totally tired, upset and distraught.

He trod through the lobby, and was ready to head upstairs to his room when the door to Mrs. Petrushka's unit opened. She was giggling and seeing someone out her door.

"Oh, there he is!" A familiar voice squealed from behind him.

Jesse turned around, he knew who it was. He couldn't be mistaken. K.

"It was so nice meeting you, Nadia," K mumbled, speaking with Mrs. Petrushka. "Thank you for that floral tea, it was delicious."

"Oh, you're welcome, dear," she gushed over K with a really thick Ukrainian accent. She patted her thin, bony fingers on K's shoulder. "Feel free to drop by anytime. Dimitri's already missing you."

Dimitri? Who in the seven hells is Dimitri?

K smiled and nodded at Nadia, then peeked into the door one last time, waving goodbye. "Bye, Dimitri!"

"Jesse," Mrs. Petrushka hollered at him. He was standing at the stairs' landing, his brows creased and furrowed. He was wildly baffled what was happening. "Your girlfriend is a keeper, take care of her, you twat." She imparted, then bid goodbye to K one last time before she closed her door.

Jesse blinked a couple of times. He didn't know which surprised him more: K spending time with the obnoxious, crazy cat lady that was Mrs. Petrushka, or that she pertained to K as his girlfriend. Did K tell her that he's her boyfriend? What was she doing inside the cat lady's home, anyway? And who the fuck is Dimitri?

He had too many questions going on in his mind, he wondered if he was going insane. Didn't matter. K didn't leave and that's all that was what's important

"Hi," K greeted with an inviting smile, already stepping towards him. She looked sexy in her black leather mini skirt and striped black and white shirt. She paired it with an army green parka and low cut Vans sneakers. She kind of reminded Jesse of Nancy Spungen's infamous black and white photo - the one that was taken by Mary Ellen Mark.

"Hi," he greeted back, feigning to sound remote and detached. He didn't want to look like he was so desperate over her. He wanted to act chill. Like he would do without her.